Anyone harvested garlic yet?

This is the second year I have had good success with shallots and I began harvesting today. I only planted 4 squares this spring. I am going to try for a second harvest in a season. The question I have is do the shallots need to cure before they get replanted? Do you have any idea about this?

I should have looked before posting LOL I posted in GARLIC!!!! but it should have gone here it would have fit better. Anyway I'll ask you all now that I see you have tried a bunch of different types of garlic....what types do you like the most?? Also which do you prefer hard neck or soft? I like both mild and strong garlic flavor so I guess they can run the gamut...I just harvested my first attempt at garlic is was early Italian variety and they seem on the small side....maybe it's just my imagination....suggestions? I am in zone 6a if that helps at all and may have planted these on the late side last fall I got them in mid November I think

camprn, Never having grown enough shallots to worry about storing it, I have no answer to your question about curing shallots. However, I have inadvertently left a couple of ripe shallots in the garden for a couple of months, then found and harvested them. It didn't seem to bother them a bit, and they were as tasty and fresh as if they had never been forgotten. Sorry I don't know more about shallots. Nonna

Thanks for getting back to me Nonna!! I am going to let them cure for a week or so and then plunk a few back in the garden and see what happens.

Back to Garlic.

I bought a couple of packets today, one Red and one Regular. No names on them.

This is the same question I put in the shallot thread.

Are they last year's garlic and should have been planted in the Spring, or should I hang on to them and plant them in the fall to overwinter.

Kelejan wrote:Back to Garlic.

I bought a couple of packets today, one Red and one Regular. No names on them.

This is the same question I put in the shallot thread.

Are they last year's garlic and should have been planted in the Spring, or should I hang on to them and plant them in the fall to overwinter.

Yup, hang on to them and plant them in the fall to overwinter.

Thanks bunch, camprn.

So nice to get an almost instant answer. Much appreciated.

I should imagine that answer will do for my shallots as well.

Yup, but I am going to plant a few of my freshly harvested shallots and see if I can get another harvest this season.

Kelejan, Garlic, shallots, and some onions (Walla Walla sweets) should be planted in the fall, so they grow intensive root systems, then bulb up in the spring, for late spring/early summer harvest. Here on Yankton Mountain, that means we harvest our garlic around the Fourth of July, unless its one of those rare varieties that mature much earlier. Our harvest this year isn't the best, got hit by the white rot fungus....and I knew using seed garlic from an unknown grower is risky (it was garlic from a local feed and seed store). Will be using seed stock from Fillaree Farms this fall, and putting it in a new bed with Mel's Mix. Heed ye, all that read this. Nonna

another garlic question....do you have to rotate where you plant it or can you plant it in the same area?

If you had fungus rot is it necessary to recondition the MM in those squares before growing garlic in them again. If so how best to refresh the MM.

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Kelejan, Garlic, shallots, and some onions (Walla Walla sweets) should be planted in the fall, so they grow intensive root systems, then bulb up in the spring, for late spring/early summer harvest. Here on Yankton Mountain, that means we harvest our garlic around the Fourth of July, unless its one of those rare varieties that mature much earlier. Nonna

Thanks for that explanation, Nonna. You state it so clearly. Now I know why I did not get those large onions this year from the seed I planted this spring.. They needed Time. The more I learn the more sense it makes.

So now I have put aside those packages I bought and I wait for the cooler Fall weather to arrive, right?

I pulled what I thought was ONE of mine today and surprise, there were 3 all together at the bottom of the hole. I guess they were pretty crowded down there because they are small so I'll leave the others another week before harvesting. I planted them last fall from organic garlic bought at the farmer's market so I could give them a try.

As you can compare from my hand, the triplets aren't very big. I hope to find singles in the other plots.

Westie, From my reading about the various fungus rots that can attack garlic, its spores stay in the ground just this side of forever. Remember, garlic is an allium, and any other allium planted in the fungus-beset soil can develop the disease, or act as a carrier for the disease. Therefore, unless you're willing to sterilize the soil (heat or chemical), mark that box for growing anything BUT alliums. Commercial growers use some high-powered chemical, but not sure it's something a homeowner would want to deal with. Luckily, we have other garden areas fit for garlic growing. My current thought is to take the 2' X 12' SFG bed currently growing tomatoes and, after the tomatoes come out, add the necessary composts, a bit of extra bone meal and plant the certified disease-free garlic cloves in it. In other words, we're starting over. Even though the majority of the bulbs we harvested this year don't look diseased, there's too much chance they're contaminated. Live and learn, Nonna

Oops! I planted both Walla Walla Sweet Onions and garlic this spring (first-time SFG'er). The onions have been peeking up out of the ground for a couple of weeks now and appear to be 1.5 - 2.5 inches in diameter. Should I just leave them (and the garlic) in the ground and wait to see if the greenery dies back so that I can harvest them? Or do I need to start over with a fall crop for next spring/summer?

I can't find the post that showed a photo and asked about a sack or pod area about 6" above the garlic itself.
In my photo above you can just see one starting to swell (white area) on the left most garlic.

I've never grown garlic before. Is that swelling by any chance a seed pod for future crops? Is the garlic 'going to seed' when that shows up?

I wondered because when I harvested mine, several had that sack on them splitting
and it looked like tiny garlics inside. The ones with the sacks appeared to have smaller garlic crops at the bottom. I'm thinking I waited a little too long to harvest mine this first time trying.

Can anyone answer please?

Quiltbea, I think I know what you're referring to: you mean the white swelling just to the left of the base of your thumb. That's a bulbil, probably grown as a result of stress that garlic felt fighting its two siblings for nutrients. Difficult growing conditions, weather, lack of water, etc. can cause bulbils to form even on soft neck garlics. Normally, bulbils develop at the top of the scape sent up by hardneck garlics, but some soft necks will occasionally do so, too. You can remove the bulbil, cure it a bit, and plant it in a nursery plot to mature into a full-sized garlic bulb should you want to experiment over a two-year period. Or plant it, and pull it early next year to use as a garlicky scallion, your choice. Either way, enjoy. Nonna

Thanks, Nonna.
Thats great information for the future.

I think they probably lacked water. I've learned that my plants need more than a cupful of water per week. I keep experimenting with the amounts to properly give, but I've learned more is better.

Quiltbee- My garlic had that too. I guess you can cure them and plant them. They grow to single clove thing the first year and then dig them up, cure, and replant and then they will be real heads of garlic after that.

YES!!! One of the farmers at the market last year was giving them away, said they were growing like weeds. I took some, scattered them in what was going to be my raised bed (prior to my SFG building this spring) and surprise, surprise, surprise!

I have some very small garlic bulbs. I'm sure I left some in the soil though since the tops were withered and dry.

Should I go back and try to find them and cure them before replanting?

I don't think I'll tie up good space for those itty bitty things that have to be replanted another year. I'd rather plant the normal garlic clove and just wait from fall til the next summer for my harvest.

I have harvested my first garlic, this is from 9 square ft. They are hanging in storage now... Red Toch, Belarus and silver somethingican'tremember

Squat_Johnson wrote:I have harvested my first garlic, this is from 9 square ft. They are hanging in storage now... Red Toch, Belarus and silver somethingican'tremember

Nice haul!

Wow, Squat, y'all did something right! Impressive haul, congratulations. Nonna

Curious Squat if your voles ever bother the garlic. Hope I can do that kinda harvest next year.